Ay fam I know that you feel bad (I do the same thing with my friends.) I’m not saying this was rights or wrong, trying to avoid a fight. I understand how people could have taken that the wrong way. But you didn’t mean to offend anyone by it, were you? You were simply calling your friends retarded and I’m guessing that could mean multiple things. I feel you bro

I got detention in middle school for calling my friend a retard while the special edu. Teacher walked by. She pulled me out of lunch line ( not really pulled, more of a notion to *come here*) and told me for future reference, call him mentally handicapped because I'd get in less trouble by the principal. She was real cool and later, I would end up assisting her after school since I had previous experience with disabled kids from elementary.

you did nothing wrong.

I'm sure at some point in the next 40-60 years one of those special ed kids is going to overhear someone saying something or someone is retarded. Is it really helping them cope if you get punished for it? That is just going to reinforce the notion that nobody gets to say the word. Fuck that.

Friends tease each other. They may use words like “gay” “retard” or even racial jokes or slurs in the group as an inside joke. I’m not here to police PC stuff, I’m not a huge fan of thought police. That said- I’m guessing (hoping?) you’re in maybe highchool, early college at most? We all shit. We may even shit in front of certain people we are close to. Yet very few of us will shit in the middle of a crowded bus or hallway. When we know words are found offensive by many, especially with justifiable reason, it’s probably better to not use them in company unless we know they are ok with those words. Maybe if you were talking amongst yourselves at least- but screaming them... not a good idea. The world is big and small at once, and we are judged by what we do as well as the company we keep. I can’t tell you how many tines I’ve bumped in to coworkers or bosses in public, or had them see me out somewhere. Then there’s potential bosses, and now social media to record things....

.... Be careful that foolish openly public behavior doesn’t come back later to haunt you. It can be surprising who remembers what, and impressions wenleave on people tend to frame our interactions with them going forward. My advice is to get your giggles in, but then seriously think on the issue and how one little thing can make or break an opportunity later or come back on us. You’ll make your own determinations about what words you want to use, or who’s feelings you want to respect, I’m not here to say “you shouldn’t say this or that...” but I would certainly say you may want to avoid being associated with screaming offensive language in public.